Nashville Mayor Pledges to Cut Poverty in Half by 2020

by Charlotte Hill · 2010-03-02 07:44:00 UTC
Topics:

The bad news? Nashville, Tennessee's poverty rate is hovering at a higher-than-average 17.5 percent. The good news? Mayor Karl Dean is taking action.

According to The Tennessean, "Dean and a task force released a report with 30 recommendations for reducing poverty here, with a goal of cutting the rate in half by 2020." (It's a lot like the national Half in Ten campaign.) While a nine percent poverty rate is still too high, it would represent a sizeable improvement.

The task force has been developing a poverty reduction plan since last September, and its final 30 recommendations are a breath of fresh air for poverty reduction enthusiasts. "In the end," The Tennessean reports, "it focused on seven areas: child care, economic opportunity, food, health care, housing, neighborhood development and work-force development." Highlights include "creating more retail grocery opportunities in low-income areas" and the development of a permanent housing trust fund for poor Nashville residents.

A major player in the state's poverty reduction plan is Catholic Charities of Tennessee, a local branch of Catholic Charities USA. Reverend Larry Snyder, the national charity's president, believes that the tools and knowledge exist to fight poverty; all that's lacking is the political will. "Look back at 1958, when the nation's poverty rate was 22 percent, and by 1971 that rate had been reduced to 12 percent," Snyder said. "If we have the same resolve in spite of the greater economic challenge we have right now, I think we can do the same thing."

That's certainly good news for Nashville's 100,000 residents currently living in poverty -- they've got Mayor Dean on their side. Take a moment to thank the mayor for his dedication to ending poverty in Nashville and let him know we'll be watching to make sure he follows through.

Photo credit: SashaW

Charlotte Hill currently serves as the social media fellow for EARN, a California nonprofit that helps low-income workers save money to create long-term prosperity.
PREVIOUS STORY:
These Political Games Need to Stop
NEXT STORY:
Is the NCAA Putting Student Athletes at Risk?

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.